It’s been more than two years since Chinese player Wu Lei has joined RCD Espanyol controlled by Rastar Group (stock code is 300043). In a recent interview from Xinhua News Agency, Wu Lei told the reporter that he had gone through all the ups and downs during these two years of staying abroad for career. More importantly, he has gained a lot and made up his mind of staying with RCD Espanyol.
The following is an excerpt from a report by Xinhua News Agency entitled Ups and Downs of My Career -- Interview with Wu Lei.
Message from Xinhua News Agency—Making his debut in La Liga two years ago, Wu Lei drew tremendous attention as the only Chinese footballer to play in The Top Five Leagues In European Football.
"I came here with a learning mind, because I want to know not only how people in a different country play football, but what their culture is like. I learned and experienced a lot no matter in La Liga or Segunda División in the past two years. From this season, for example, I could feel the environment of Segunda División, including how each team survives, and this gives me a more thorough insight to the Spanish football. That’s why I could completely adapt myself to the transition from La Liga to Segunda División,” said Wu Lei in the interview.
In addition, he also admitted that this year, all members of RCD Espanyol are working solely towards “getting back to La Liga”. “We have confidence in getting back to La Liga.” Now the league is halfway through, and RCD Espanyol always stays among the top 3 in the standings, which makes them quite confident in a promotion. Wu Lei, however, didn’t forget to mention that Segunda División is a “top-notch” league, which means the team must fight with extreme strength. “You may think it would be easier for players to perform in Segunda División than in La Liga. Now this league is halfway through, and you can see all the first few names in the standings are trying their best to fight. We can't let go of our guard at every moment of every game, and only with this spirit in our mind, we can achieve good score.”
This season, Wu Lei is facing greater competitive pressure from within the team, and he is not daunted: “In fact, before coming to Europe, I realized that the competitive atmosphere there is definitely more intense than that in China, given the overall football-playing environment across Europe. I also made a lot of preparations against difficulties, and anticipated some situations, like whether I can be on the green field, game time too short, or no chance of playing for a period of time.
Wu Lei said, “A lot of young players come here every year, and our team’s training for youth is getting intensified. Every year you can see many Youth players promoted to the First team. I think this is a positive competitive state that can create a virtuous circle among the players.”
Despite the setbacks of the past year, Wu Lei still believed that he was right to make the decision last summer to stay with RCD Espanyol: “At my age, I can still adapt to the European football-playing atmosphere and get a foothold in this team, and that’s enough to make me believe there is no regret or error in making this decision. There are also family considerations. My family quite enjoy their lives here. That’s why I always firmly believe I’ve made the right decision.”
In Wu Lei’s eyes, pursuing his football career overseas is an experience more rewarding than trying. "Before coming to Spain, I only watched the European league on TV. Now I’m really involved in this environment, and I have experienced the whole atmosphere and feature here, including the entire Spanish football system, skills, tactics and the ways preferred. That’s totally different from what you may have seen from TV.” In summing up how he feels about his career abroad, he said: “I’m happy with this experience because I have personally felt, experienced and learned from these things.”
